Once you know the symptoms of a stroke, identifying them isn't difficult . And understanding how to respond to a stroke could save someone's life—even yours. Beyond that, learning about stroke can help prevent a loved one from experiencing a stroke in the first place.
But did you know that you can prevent a stroke? To understand how to stop a stroke from happening, you should first understand what takes place in the body when a stroke occurs—and why it happens in the first place.
What Is a Stroke?
A stroke occurs when a part of the brain becomes deprived of blood and oxygen. This typically happens when a blood vessel ruptures (hemorrhagic stroke) or becomes blocked (ischemic stroke). This causes cell death in the area of the brain that would normally be supplied by the affected blood vessel. Because different parts of the brain control different movements, sensations, and functions of the body, the way a person is affected by their stroke can vary significantly.
Stroke can also vary widely in severity, but stroke is consistently listed as in the United States, contributing to the deaths of nearly 160,000 people in the U.S. every year. Sadly, this accounts for nearly 1 in every 21 deaths. Chances are, you know or will know someone affected by stroke since it affects 795,000 Americans yearly. A person dies from a stroke about every three minutes.
But here's the good news: Despite how serious of a health problem stroke can be, it is preventable. In fact, 87% of stroke risk is thought to be preventable, so it is considered the leading preventable cause of disability. One of the most important things you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones is to take control of lifestyle-related factors that can increase your risk of having a stroke. After quitting cigarette smoking, high blood pressure is the single most important risk factor to control.
What is High Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is a measure of how hard your heart works to pump blood throughout the body. Specifically, it's a measure of the pressure of blood against the walls of your arteries (in millimeters of mercury, or mmHg) when your heart is contracting (systole) and relaxing (diastole).
This is why you see two numbers when your blood pressure is read. The top number represents systolic pressure, and the bottom number represents diastolic pressure. Textbook “normal” is 120/80 mmHg, but it's normal to have variability in this number, especially since so many things (including medications, foods, exercise, sleep, stress, time of day, etc.) can influence it.
What's not normal is when, in a relaxed seated posture, your systolic pressure rises to 130 or higher and/or your diastolic pressure rises to 80 or higher. If these numbers stay elevated, a person can be said to have high blood pressure, also known as hyperten. Elevated blood pressure occurs when a person's systolic pressure is between 120 and 130 and/or their diastolic pressure is between 80-89.
Hypertension is a common problem currently affecting about 47% of the U.S. adult population. In older adults aged 65 years and older, that number is significantly higher: 76.5%. Known as the “silent killer,” hypertension can drastically increase a person's risk of health problems often without showing any obvious signs other than the reading itself. That’s why it’s so important to get your blood pressure checked on a routine basis.
The Relationship Between High Blood Pressure & Stroke
High blood pressure contributes to the development of multiple health conditions including glaucoma, heart failure, kidney disease, and, yes, stroke.
“Not only is high blood pressure one of the leading risk factors for stroke, but it is also one of the most controllable risk factors,” says Jennifer Juhl Majersik, MD, professor of at the at the 㽶Ƶ of Utah and director of the Stroke Center.
Think of it this way: The problem with blood pressure is that it forces your heart to work that much harder. This can damage your heart, causing it to misfire or beat irregularly. Plus, the increased pressure inside your arteries hardens them over time and leads to the build-up of hard plaque (atherosclerosis) that can cause narrowing or closure of your arteries, including the large arteries, supplying blood to your brain.
In your brain, the small vessels receiving higher blood pressure end up becoming thick and diseased, causing both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. In this way, high blood pressure can lead to all three major kinds of stroke: those from the heart, the large arteries, and the small arteries.
Scientific research provides compelling evidence that high blood pressure and stroke are closely linked—and that successfully treating hypertension reduces that risk.
Source: Circulation. 2023;147:e93–e621. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001123
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